D 570 
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D 570 

G3 rst-Hand Information From 

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The War Zone" 



ADDRESS BY 



W. A. GARRETT 



OF THI-: 



U. S. Railroad Commission to France 



UrjJVKRKl) TO Tin: 



"Four Minute Men" 



Oh THK 



r 



Pennsylvania 
Committee of Public Safety 

and Liberty Loan Speakers 



UNION LEAGUE, PHILADELPHIA 

October 15, 1917 



ssuej by Publicity Department, Commitlce of Public Safety for the C'otnmaniiralth 
of Pennsylvania. So. Penn .Square. Philadelphia 



"First-Hand Information From 

The War Zone" — i^ :j'(o 



The following address by W. A. Garrett, of the U. S. Railroad Commission 
to France, was delivered at a meeting of the Four Minute Men, of the Penn- 
sylvania Committee of Public Safety, and Liberty Loan Speakers, on October 
15, 1917, in the Union League, Philadelphia. Mr. Garrett was introduced after 
the meeting had been stirred by Ex-Governor Edwin S. Stuart, Edward T. 
Stotesbury, George Wharton Pepper and Colonel John Gribbel, president of 
the Union League, who strongly supported the Liberty Loan as a means of 
making America's participation in the war doubly effective. 

MR. GARRETT'S ADDRESS 

"Mr. Chairman, Four Minute Men: Our Commission of four, appointed 
by the War Department, had orders to study the French railroad conditions, 
with a view to reporting on their needs in handling the American expeditionary 
forces that were to be sent to France. During war times, you can understand, 
there are certain things that cannot be mentioned, but the Department has 
no objection to some data being given to the American public. 

"The gist of our report was that the French railroads were in as good con- 
dition as the average American railroad today; that they had to be kept in that 
condition, because it is just as necessary to have a first-class transportation 
machine as it is to have a first-class fighting machine. 

"The Commission spent four days in England with the War Department's 
representatives, studying the British handling of their troops in France, the 
same programs that Americans must study for handling our troops. Sir Eric 
Geddes, who organized the British program, gave us valuable information and 
advice in regard to the errors that they had made. Sir Eric said that he was 
very glad to do this, because of his regard for America, as the first railroad 
experience he ever had was as a freight train l)rakeman on the Baltimore and 
Ohio railroad, at Wheeling, W. Va. 

"The Commission crossed the Channel from Folkstone to Boulogne and, 
passing through Folkstone, saw the effects of the German bombardment two 
days previously, at which time 37 people were killed, principally women and 
children. When boarding the steamer at Folkstone, each officer is required to 
don a life preserver and keep it on until the opposite shore is reached. Two 
torpedo boat destroyers accompanied the ship, on either side, and when half 
way across, meeting the westbound fleet, the torpedo boat destroyers from 
England returned and those starting from France went back to France. 

"We reached Boulogne just two weeks after sailing from America and 
this thought immediately struck home. Before sailing from America, the bill 
boards and placards were covered with appeals to American youth to join the 

D.' Of D. 
NOV : 1917 



Army — enlist in the Navy. Thai was W'.ir Program Xo. i. When \vc 
reached England, the hill boards and wagons carried the appeal 'Kat less bread; 
economize ; conserve.' War Program No. 2. In France — no appeal, no 
bill boards; only the earnest, intelligent work of e\ery man, woman and child, 
because the\" had sutfercd for three \ears and the Germans were ()C(up\iiv>; 
l>ench soil. 

"At Boulogne we had the first real impression of war, because in the morning 
of that da\- there had been an attack and the ambulances were arri\ing with the 
injured. 

"Before leaving America, we had been told that it would take a week before 
progress was made in France, because of the slow, deliberate manner in which 
these people li\'e, and their politeness to avoid undue haste. That condition, 
no doubt, pre\ailcd prior to the war, l)ut the French people are now 'doing 
things' with the real 'American |)unch.' Here was our program: At the Bou- 
logne Hotel, call 4:45; breakfast 5:00; left in automobiles 5:15 for Paris where we 
arrived at 12:30 P. M., took lunch at 12:45; appeared before Ambassador Sharp 
at 2:00; French War Office 3:00; and the next morning at 9 o'clock had an en- 
gagement with Albert Claveille, the French Minister in charge of transporta- 
tion, a most wonderful, broad minrled, liberal man. 

LABOR SHORTAGE A HANDICAP 

"In examining the ports, w'e found that, because of the great shortage of 
labor, it was not possible to unload ships by night, although all kinds of labor 
was engaged; young boys, old men, women, crippled soldiers, and prisoners. 
We saw German prisoners building camp for the American soldiers, and anyone 
watching a body of German prisoners work is impressed with the fact that their 
40 \ears of military training has made strong men out of them. 

"From Paris we went northeast toward the British line and there the sights 
in the dixasted eountrx o\er which the Germans had retreated cannot l)e de- 
scribed. The sub-strata of eastern France is limestone and chalk, and when the 
big shells from both sides of the line strike the ground the bowels of the earth 
are thrown up, the dirt being lighter falls first, stone on top, and mile after mile 
nothing is seen but a quarry bed, no trees, grass or dirt, nothing but shell holes 
15 or 20 feet apart, 8 to 10 feet in diameter, generalK- water filled and man\" 
with green scum. 

"In this war zone, the aeroplanes arc numerfuis, and when German machine- 
are overhead, there is steady firing of shrapnel, either to cripple the machines or 
to make them climb higher to pre\ent proper obserxation, which reciuiresall per- 
sons in the zone to wear the steel helmet, because the shrapnel, the size of 
walnuts, is a real menace. Gas masks are required so tiiat in case of a big 
attack the men in the zone will be properly protected. 

"Hospitals, hospitals, hospitals everywhere, with ttie splendid attendants, 
many of them heroic women. Grave-yards without number, filled to over- 
Howing, the white cross marking the Allies and the black cross the Germans; 
gra\e yards in which men are laid away today, bombarded and blown-uj) 
tomorrow. Barbed wire by thousands of miles and destroyed trenches with 
the marks of blood\- encounters. (Vipples e\ery where, crippled in arms, 
legs, head, bod\' and then e(iuall\ serious are the shell-shocked men, many 



of them absolutely crazy, man>- of them deaf, and the nerves of all so 
shattered that the men shake all over at the least touch. When we were 
near the British front, some of the Canadians had been crucified by the Germans. 
Surely the people of this country do not realize that we are at war. 

"In studying the parcel post program at Boulogne, it was found that the 
British, very wisely, send the kits of the men to Boulogne headquarters when- 
ever the officers or men fail to respond to roll call within a reasonable time. 
The kits are kept at Boulogne for one week and then forwarded to the home 
folks, and on examining the records we found that one week's home shipments 
for officers alone totaled more than looo. 

"We saw Vimy Ridge, under bombardment; that splendid battle ground on 
which the Canadians gave such a wonderful account of themselves. Just north 
of Vimy Ridge is Lens, the Pittsburgh of France, now held by the Germans, 
whom the British are trying to force back. When the Germans had been pushed 
back a few hundred yards, everyone v/as pleased, but we must not overlook the 
fact that Lens is 150 miles from the German line. 

"The British Army has approximately 115 miles of front. Let me give you 
this study: It is approximately 50 miles from the British Channel to the fighting 
line, but where the American troops must fight, it will be over 400 miles from the 
coast to the fighting line, so that anyone can figure that with an equal number 
of men and big guns, we will be required to provide eight times the transpor- 
tation facilities that the British provide. 

TRANSPORTATION IS BIG PROBLEM 

"Now, what have the British? When we were at headquarters they had 
750 British locomotives on French rails and 49,500 British freight cars on French 
rails and their transportation force consisted of approximately 100,000 men. 
In addition to the transportation men, there were approximately 200,000 labor- 
ers taking care of the unloading at the ports, the maintenance of the railroads, 
canals and public highways, the British protecting 3500 miles of highways. 
These 300,000 men — transportation and laborers — are in addition to the fight- 
ing men, so that the American people must understand that war means men 
plus men. 

"We were invited to French headquarters at Compegne, because General 
Petain was anxious to tell us about transportation. Minister Claveille having 
explained that the battle of the Marne, handled by JofTre in the early stages, 
was won mostly by the transportation of men and munitions to the battle line. 
General Petain told us at headquarters that it was just as necessary to have a 
first-class transportation machine as it was to have a first-class fighting machine; 
that the railroads had to be kept up in good shape ; that they were in that condition 
then, and the very moment they were permitted to get in bad shape, just that 
moment either side would lose the war. 

"General Petain explained in detail the defence of Verdun and showed 
how the town had been supplied with men, food stufif and munitions by the 
narrow gauge road and by the turnpikes; that they put 60,000 men to build a 
36 mile double track line and it took them just three months to finish the line. 
If they had been ten days longer, the French could not have held out and Verdun 
would have been lost. We were taken to Seville Fort and there, over the wrecked 



parapets, we saw the ground that the ( rown Prince iriefl to take, which resulted 
in the loss of 800,000 men. 

"Each German regiment has what is called a 'hellish scjuad', whose 
duty it is to poison W'ells, attach electric batteries to all movable articles so that 
as the Germans retreat and the Allies pick up a chair or open a door there 
is a bomb-explosion and generally a loss of life. Germany's thoroughness is 
emphasized in the devastated country through which they retreat — no building 
left standing, trees deliberately cut and destroyed. A gocxl cousin of mine who 
has lived in France for more than 20 years told me that she saw 32 Belgian chil- 
dren with one or both hands missing after they reached Paris, and a dear woman, 
who had raised two splendid daughters, said that if the Germans approached 
her home, she would kill both her daughters and herself. If the people of 
the United States could visualize the German invasion of Belgium, the 
desecration of France and the assaults upon the mothers, wives and 
daughters of our Allies, there would be no need for an appeal for a 
Liberty Loan, because our people would voluntarily make a 'liberty gift' 
to crush Prussian Militarism and make the world safe. 

"Mr. Daniel Willard, Presirlent Baltimore c\: Ohio Railroad, recently had 
a splendid article appear in the press. The thought that was uppermost in his 
mind was this: 'Before any American spends money for new materials, or starts 
on a new program, let him ask himself this question — will this help America win 
the war?' This thought was most timely because the American railroads for years 
have been hammered between the 'upper and the lower stone,' with increased 
cost of operation, with decreased rates for performing service, so that they are 
not in that pink of perfection that transportation lines should be in a glorious 
country such as we have. 

"Before we get through the war, we will ha\ e meatless days and wheat- 
less days and the American people should respond promptly to this, because 
such a program will help that splendid man Hoover in his conservation work. 
Some of our people do not seem to understand that Hoover's thought is not to 
economize for the sake of saving money, but to save the food, to prevent starv- 
ing in Europe. He is constantly urging the reduced consumption of beef, pork, 
dairy products, wheat and sugar, all so necessary for the up-keep of our Allies 
in Europe. 

DAYLIGHT-SAVING NEEDED 

"A law should be enacted forcing the daylight saxiiig hour, if oiiK to con- 
serve our coal supply, because coal is so badly needed in Europe. In Paris, 
when we left, coal was selling at S45.00 per ton, with very little chance of getting 
a full ton. The surplus coal in ilu' I'nited States should \)v used as dunnage on 
all shipments to Europe. 

"Shortly after the declaration of war, six railroad Presidents in the United 
States were appointed a special Uommiltee of National Defense of the American 
Railway Association. These men very ably supervise all of the transportation 
lines so that our 250,000 miles of railroad are now being operated as one great 
system, and mark you, without a Government guarantee of any kind. In England, 
Sir Guy Ganett is the Dictator in charge of all the lines, but they very wiseh' 
guaranteed the earnings of the railroads so that there will be a surplus accruing 



equal to that which the Eni^Hsh roads enjoyed the year pre\'ious to the war. 
In France, Minister CMa\eillc is the Dictator of the railroads and they are either 
Government owned or the profits guaranteed. 

"In France, to economize in train service and force the people to stay at 
home, 60% of the passenger service has been discontinued, although the passen- 
ger rates have not been increased since the war. In England the tariffs were 
increased 50% and this automatically decreased the passenger train mileage 40%. 
All the countries at war are trying to impress the people with the fact that they 
should remain at home and not travel, leaving the transportation lines free to 
take care of the war program. In the United States at the present time less 
than 10% of the passenger train mileage has been taken off since the war began. 
We must educate ourselves to less transportation service in this wonderful 
country than we have enjoyed in the past. 

"There is no passenger car shortage in England or France because the sol- 
diers ride in freight cars, the standard military train consisting of the engine, 
next car a gondola loaded with coal, next car a box car with bunks for the relief 
crew (every train carries two crews). Then there are 17 flat cars, 30 box cars, 
2 baggage cars and i coach for the officers. 

"The French people are tired; very tired. They have had three years of 
most cruel war, over a million of their men have been killed, and there is no 
smiling in F'rance at the present time, except by the German and Austrian 
prisoners. The only thing that France can give to America is water, air and 
standing timber. 

"According to the press reports, there will be no gasoline in England for 
pleasure parties after November ist. It was my pleasure to have three confer- 
ences with General Pershing, and I state most emphatically that General Pershing 
is absolutely the right man in the right place. Recently, in Washington, 
I took luncheon with a man who had served with General Pershing in the 
Philippines. This man is whipping into line a company of special men who will 
shortly go to France. He told me that, in the Philippines, and wherever General 
Pershing served, the officers, to a man, would take their Company, if need be, 
to hell with General Pershing. 

SUBMARINE MENACE IS REAL 

"The submarines are a real menace. When we were abroad approximately 
250,000 net tons of shipping were being lost per month and it was reported the 
new German submarines carried 18 torpedoes, and had a cruising radius of 21 
days. The only good feature was that the average life of the submarine was 
but 4 trips. We returned from France on the Steamer 'Espagne' from Bordeaux 
and aboard ship was what was left of two entire ship crews that had been sunk 
by torpedoes a few days previous. 

"Let me give you this study: To feed an army of one-half million men 
with their horses and guns, will require 3 ships per day from the United States 
to France, or one ship every 8 hours. For one million, it would require a ship 
every 4 hours, and for two million a ship every 2 hours and every one of these 
ships must run the blockade and get through safely. In addition to this tre- 
mendous fleet, we must have ships to take care of engines, cars, rails, bridges, 
machinery and all other equipment that our Army must have in France. 



"WliL-n \V(.' were in I'raiuc, a I'rciuh oftirfr told us that tlu- Arni\- th(tiij;lu 
very wi'll of I Ik- Crown Prince of (.erniany and, as he explained, this was because 
of the Crown I^rince's interference with the (ierman Army which had made it 
possible for the French to win several battles which they mij^ht not ha\e won if Von 
Hindenber^ had i)een in charjije and not the ("rown Prince. (lod grant we have 
no Crown Princes in the Cnitcd States at this time, especially at Washington. 

"The American people have much to learn from the Cierman military 
ilioroughness. The State Department is giving us each week some documentar\' 
e\ idence that it has acciniiulated. We were gi\en some side lights of the Prus- 
sian militar\ ilioroughness while in I'r.inic. We were told of (he intrigue in 
Russia — told without doubt the Russian troops would ha\e been into \ieini.i 
in six weeks' time had not the Petrograd damnablcness resulted in \hr >iiutiing 
off of numitions, then of food stuffs. Later there was the insurrection in Russia 
and the theorists announcetl that the i)roperty of the rich was to be di\ided. 
The anxiety of the soldiers who had fought in the trenches to enjoy s(jme of the 
good things that were to be distributed resulted in two million men g(jing back 
home. 

"( '.eneral Retain told us thai, when war was tleciared, iIk-\- had figured the 
German population as 65 milli(jn, but now they were absoluteU' satisfied that 
for years the census had been 'faked' and there were one lumdred million people 
in (iermain . We liad reliable data that approximateh' 7000 locomoti\es had 
been made in ( iirmaiu' during the three years of the war. Ciermain- i> the 
great manufacturing countr\and we all know that Ciermaiu- should, on iiii> 
account, have had more freight cars with shipments in France at any time tiiaii 
the French had in C.erman\'. To emphasize the Cicrman thoroughnes>. when 
war was tinalK declared, there were 55,000 French cars in Ciermanx- and ij.ooo 
("■(.•rnian cars in 1-rance ii'sult, Cermany was ahead 38,000 cars. 

■■.\fier relating some of m\- experiences in France, I am charged with 
being a pessimist. 1 had alwa\s claimed lo be an optimist Init the American 
peo|)le should know liie inilli. .\n\ 111. ui \isiting Kurope to<la\- will return a 
sadtler man. 

Men, Money and Americanitis Will Win 

"Will we win the war? Yes. In the l'hiladeli)hia papers recenll\- Lord 
Northcliffe was recortled as stating the war would be won 1)\- mone\-. In the 
same paper, in another coltimn, that sjilendid man Ceneral Kuhn said the war 
would be won by men and guns. It is my thought that we will win with both 
money and properly ecjuipped men, plus the helj) of e\ery American man, 
woman and child, after an injection of kk/ , .\M I'KIC.WITIS has been shot 
into them by men of your kind. 

"How long will the war last!-' .\o oiu- knows, but our C.o\ernment has 
very wisely worked on a program of a long war. Consider the bigness of this 
war. Mone\- b\- the billions; men 1)\- the millions, shijjs, cars and aeroplanes 
by the thousands. Mr. W. W. Attcrbury, who has recently gone to France as 
Director-General of Transportation, must have the biggest supply yard in the 
world — this because of the wonderful things that we are expected to do, and the 
further fact that there are 3000 miles between France and the United States by 
sea and the submarine menace is a real one. Besides, we must always have 
sufficient material on hand to follow up the retreating Germans. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

HHHIH 



"fn conclusion, afler traveling api.)roxiniately 4000 mi 
roads and about 1000 miles by automobiles, principally i 

covering the harbors and rivers in tugs and motor boats, i 018 465 821 5 
that never can be blotted from memory, my message to the American people 
who stay at home is: 

"Economize, don't waste. Be an American, first, last and all the 
time. Let your criticism be constructive and not destructive. Stand 
behind the Government. 

"To our men and true women who go abrotid to help win the war, good 
luck and God bless them." 



COMMITTEE OF PUBLIC SAFETY 
FOR THE COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA 

South Penn Square, Philadelphia 

GEORGE WHARTON PEPPER, Chairman 
B. F. JONES, Jr., Vice-Chairman 
LEWIS E. BEITLER, Secretary 
EFFINGHAM B. MORRIS, Treasurer 
LEWIS S. SADLER, Executive Manager 



EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 



E. M. C. AFRICA 
W. W. ATTERBURY 
A. C. DINKEY 
SPENCER C. GILBERT 
H. J. HAYDEN 

J. R. McAllister 

Mrs. J. WILLIS MARTIN 



A. W. MELLON 

ALLEN P. PERLEY 

JAMES SCARLETT 

A. W. SEWALL 

E. T. STOTESBURY 

COLONEL L. A. WATRES 

HOMER D. WILLIAMS 



PENNSYLVANIA COMMISSION 
OF PUBLIC SAFETY AND DEFENSE 

HON. MARTIN G. BRUMBAUGH, Chairman 
HON. FRANK B. McChhm, Sec' y-Treas. 
HON. HARMON M. KEPHART 
HON. CHARLES A. SNYDER 
BRIG.-GEN'L FRANK D. BEARY 



■ 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

IliliiSifi!!!!!!!!!!!! 

018 465 821 5 ^ 



